Canada: Media Literacy Week raises students’ online awareness
The Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF), an EI affiliate, together with the Media Awareness Network, is organising the Media Literacy Week from 7-11 November under the theme “Digital Citizenship.” This year’s event aims at inspiring young people to reflect on their online lives, and their rights and responsibilities as they navigate today’s ever more complex digital world.
CTF President, Paul Taillefer, explained: "Teachers have a pivotal role to help their students become active and responsible citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly complex. We are proud that this year’s special funding subsidies were offered to teachers through our CTF Imagineaction program in order to support the theme of digital citizenship.”
Students from across the country will premiere videos on digital citizenship at the national launch. They were trained in the tools and techniques to write and produce the videos.
Through not only these video premieres, but other events, such as online challenges, panel discussions, workshops or film screenings, Media Literacy Week targets young people of all ages.
EI General Secretary, Fred van Leeuwen, noted: “EI warmly welcomes this initiative. Media education helps individuals become media literate - able to critically understand the nature, techniques and impacts of media messages and productions.”
He underlined: “The educators’ role as facilitators and co-learners in a student-centred learning process is not only the model for media education, but has also become an accepted new critical pedagogy.”
He also emphasized: “Locating and evaluating the right information, and synthesizing into useful knowledge or communication represent some of today’s main challenges. Media education is a key part of a 21st century approach to learning, incorporating techniques of critical thinking, creative communication and computer, visual and aural literacy skills at its core.”
To know more about the Media Literacy Week, please go to the official website of this initiative.
Further information is also available on the CTF website.
